Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Research Articles

Breaking self-focused orientation in people who perceive economic scarcity: The influence of transcendent motivation to promote an abstract mindset and prosocial behavioral intentions.

Previous research shows that being in a situation of economic scarcity promotes a more concrete mindset that motivates behavioral decisions based on action difficulty and their short-term outcomes, which frequently entails negative consequences. However, a concrete mindset can be counteracted by inducing an abstract mindset to help people focus on final broad goals. We explored how focusing on transcendent motives (vs. self-oriented) promotes a more abstract mindset facilitating prosocial behavioral intentions. Study 1 (pre-post design) explored whether focusing on transcendent motives for engaging in activities promoted a more abstract mindset compared to focusing on self-oriented motives. Using a 2 × 2 design with two consecutive opposing primes, Study 2 tested how inducing a transcendent orientation could reverse the effect caused by perceiving economic scarcity, promoting greater orientation toward others and prosocial behavioral intentions. In Study 1 participants who generated transcendent motives for behaviors presented a greater increase in the abstraction of construal level, compared to those who only generated self-oriented motives for the same behaviors. Study 2 demonstrated that, when participants who perceived economic scarcity were focused on transcendent motives (vs. self-oriented) to promote a more abstract mindset, their orientation toward others increased. Interestingly, for people perceiving economic scarcity, whose own difficulties could reduce prosocial behaviors, the greater orientation toward others promoted a greater intention to engage in demanding prosocial behaviors. We provide evidence of new strategies to promote abstraction in individuals and increase their involvement in prosocial behavioral intentions, especially for those perceiving economic scarcity.

Charity running event for homelessness: the framing effects on prosocial behavioral intentions

ABSTRACT Research questions What are differential framing effects of promotional messages on participants’ prosocial behavioral intentions in the context of charity running events? Do content richness and plight information play a moderating role? Research methods In the first experiment, the authors employed a 2 (message frame: positive vs. negative) x 2 (content richness: rich vs. non-rich) between-subjects design to examine the effects of CRE message frames and richness on prosocial behavioral intentions. In the second experiment, the authors employed a 2 (message frame: positive vs. negative) x 2 (plight information: high vs. low) between-subjects design. The authors recruited two hundred and twenty-three participants (N = 223) for experiment 1 and recruited two hundred twelve (N = 212) participants for experiment 2 via Mturk with compensation of $.75 USD for completing the study. Results and findings The results of the first experiment indicated the negatively framed advertising appeal elicited greater prosocial behavioral intentions. In the rich content condition, the negative (vs. positive) frame has a stronger positive effect on behavioral intentions than in the non-rich condition. The second experiment further validated the impact of the negative framing in charity advertising in the low plight condition. Implications The findings of the current study contribute to the charity sport event literature and provide important insights for managers when promoting their cause-related events.

How diverse beliefs shape the experience of transcendent gratitude

ABSTRACT As a novel contribution, this study considers transcendent gratitude (e.g. gratitude towards non-human benefactors such as God, Science, or Karma) across diverse belief systems. The sample included 619 participants (M age 37.5, 52.6% female) across the U.S. with beliefs across three distinct categories: a) Theistic; 38.4%), b) Spiritual but not theistic; 26.4%, and c) Non-theistic/Non-spiritual (Other); 35.2%. Across the three belief systems, we tested the associations between gratitude and theistic predictors (e.g. feeling comfort or anger towards God, fidelity, interaction with God, attachment to God, and transcendent indebtedness) and non-theistic predictors (e.g. life comprehension, primal beliefs, prosocial behavioral intentions, and interpersonal attachment). Interestingly, we found that participants from all belief categories experienced transcendent gratitude. Comfort, anger, transcendent indebtedness, life comprehension, and prosocial intentions were robust predictors of transcendent gratitude across belief categories. We conclude with recommendations for more nuanced models of transcendent gratitude.

Not all exclusions are created equal: effects of physical and social components of exclusion on well-being, prosocial, and antisocial behavioral intentions

ABSTRACT Over decades, research has shown that people are negatively affected by social exclusion. However, no experimental research has examined the effects of physical exclusion and how it might combine and interact with social exclusion. Across two studies (N = 1,238), we manipulated both components of exclusion separately via an imaginative scenario paradigm and measured their impact on established social exclusion outcomes. Social exclusion, irrespective of being paired with physical in- or exclusion, affected individuals more negatively than mere physical exclusion. Social inclusion was not able to reduce the impact of physical exclusion per se but to protect overall levels of well-being to some extent. Our findings add to a more nuanced understanding of social and physical aspects of exclusionary experiences.

Perceived Moral Norms in an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior in Predicting University Students' Bystander Intentions toward Relational Bullying.

Relational forms of bullying, such as social exclusion, are prevalent among students in higher education (HE) and pose challenges to the creation of a safe and inclusive learning environment for young adults. Based on research showing how bystanders in bullying incidents can counteract bullying effectively, the present study investigated the extent to which bystanders' prosocial behavioral intentions may be predicted using an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). Students' behavioral intentions toward the physical-social exclusion of peers in a hypothetical group work setting were investigated in a sample of 419 university students in the United Kingdom. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that moral norms significantly predicted intention over and above cognitive attitude, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control. In contrast, emotional attitudes and injunctive norms were not significant predictors of intention. Moreover, significant weak mediation effects could be shown for moral norms as a mediator of the relationships between standard TPB predictors and intention. The present study contributes knowledge to the growing research body on applications of the TPB and on bystander intentions in bullying in HE. Implications for a development in preventive measures to foster university students' prosocial intentions toward bullying are discussed.

The Nontheistic Sacred: The Psychological Functions of Metal Music and Artifacts

ABSTRACT The psychological functions of the nontheistic sacred in a secular context (metal music culture) were examined for their consistency with previous studies of the sacred in religious contexts using two studies. The first experiment examined music as a form of nontheistic sacred through a comparison of death metal fans (n = 89) listening to death metal or hard rock. The second experiment examined how some metal cultural artifacts were perceived as sacred by metal fans (n = 52), and how their loss or defilement was experienced when compared to non-sacred artifacts. The first experiment found that the death metal music was perceived as more sacred than hard rock music to the metal community, it promoted higher levels of positive affect, and it was associated with significantly higher levels of prosocial behavioral intentions, social relatedness, mood maintenance, and self-awareness, with no differences in empathy and negative affect. The second experiment found that acts of desecration of sacred items, when compared to non-sacred items, led to a higher state of anger and the loss of the items led to significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety. The two experiments present evidence that the nontheistic sacred is experienced within the secular context of metal music in terms of functions and effects consistent with previous literature exploring the sacred in religious contexts.

I Will Give a Little Help to My Friend – Validation of the German Prosocial Behavior Intention Scale (PBIS-G)

Abstract: The present study adapts and investigates the psychometric properties of the German version of the Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Scale (PBIS). The sample included 507 participants. Incongruent with the original study, the PBIS showed low internal consistency (α = .57; ω = .63). The CFA results indicated a good two-dimensional model fit. The PBIS scores showed convergent validity with related instruments. A positive correlation with materialism was observed, so no statements on discriminant validity were made. Additional measurement invariance testing with an existing US sample showed configural measurement invariance, indicating differences in the mode of action in both cultures. Based on these results, the PBIS-G should be used with caution, and further psychometric testing should be conducted to examine discriminant validity and the origin of missing measurement invariance.

When they cry: Tears facilitate responses toward members of socially disadvantaged groups.

Emotional tears are vehicles for bonding between individuals, even with those belonging to different social categories. Yet, little is known about the reactions they provoke toward members of underprivileged groups such as immigrants or the explanatory mechanisms of their effects. Across three experiments (with 546 adults) using standardized images of emotional displays, we tested the effects of tears on cognitive inferences (of warmth and competence) and self-reported affective responses (such as compassion or discomfort), and both directly and indirectly on self-reported prosocial behavioral intentions toward an immigrant male. Compared with nontearful (i.e., neutral and sad) expressions, observers perceived a tearful immigrant as warmer but not as less competent (except for study 3). They also felt more compassion (but not discomfort) and were more willing to offer an immigrant person emotional (i.e., to approach and comfort) and instrumental support (i.e., to donate money to an organization helping immigrants but not volunteer their time). Inferred warmth and felt compassion (or compassion-related emotions) explained the effects of tears on emotional support and donation intentions. This research highlights the need to study emotion expression in the context of interethnic and, more broadly, intergroup relations and the effects of emotional tears beyond the willingness to provide immediate assistance. We also discuss implications that tears might have for promoting different types of solidarity with members of underprivileged groups such as immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding the Relationship between Parental Psychological Control and Prosocial Behavior in Children in China: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Gender.

Objectives: Prosocial behavior is essential for individuals’ development, and the study aims to analyze the relationship between parental psychological control and prosocial behavior. Method: The current study investigated the relationships among Paternal Psychological Control (endogenous variable), General Self-Efficacy (mediator), and Prosocial Behaviors (exogenous endogenous variable) via a moderated mediation modeling approach (gender as the moderator). A total of 1822 Chinese students aged from 7- to 17-year-old (Mage = 12.4 years old, SDage = 1.89, 48.6% girls) were included in the current study. Results: After controlling participants’ age, the only child status, family income, and parent’s education level, results revealed that higher levels of parental control were associated with lower levels of students’ self-efficacy, which, in turn, reduced students’ prosocial behavior intention. Moreover, the relationship between self-efficacy and prosocial behavior intention was moderated by students’ gender, where the positive effects of self-efficacy on prosocial behavior intentions were reduced in girls. Conclusion: Findings highlight the importance of parental psychological control for supporting children’s self-efficacy to promote prosocial behaviors on different gender groups.

Service staff encounters with dysfunctional customer behavior: Does supervisor support mitigate negative emotions?

Dysfunctional customer behavior is common in service settings. For frontline employees, negative encounters can cause short-term despondency or have profound, long-term psychological effects that often result in both direct and indirect costs to service firms. Existing research has explored the influence of dysfunctional customer behavior on employee emotions, but it has not fully investigated the psychological mechanism through which customer misbehavior transforms into employee responses. To maintain service quality and employee well-being, it is important to understand the impact of customer misconduct on employee emotions and its effect on subsequent service behavior. To assess the process through which dysfunctional customer behavior manifests as negative emotions in frontline service employees, and the influence of negative employee emotions on their prosocial service behavior, we surveyed 185 frontline banking service employees. We sought information on service employee experiences, attitudes, and feelings regarding dysfunctional customer behaviors, the perceived level of supervisor support, and employee prosocial service behavior intentions. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling were used for statistical analysis and hypothesis verification. Results indicate that dysfunctional customer behavior has a positive relationship with bank service employee negative emotions and a negative influence on employee prosocial service behavior. The study found that negative emotions fully mediated the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and prosocial service behavior. The moderating role that perceived supervisor support plays on the relationships between dysfunctional customer behavior and negative emotion was also investigated. The results show that perceived supervisor support moderates the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and negative employee emotions. Finally, the study provides bank managers with effective strategies to assist frontline employees to manage and deter dysfunctional customer behavior, and presents employees with internal recovery strategies when encountering dysfunctional customer behavior.

Is kindness invaluable? The impact of benefit and cost on prosocial behavior intentions

PurposeIn the modern increasingly competitive milieu of cause marketing activities, both profit and nonprofit organizations expect their advocation of prosocial programs to gain the support of target customers. Previous research shows the effect from adding participant's personal attributes or social influence factors. This study considers the effects of benefit incentives and cost/reward influences to enhance prosocial behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThree between-subject experiments were conducted and SPSS Statistics ANOVA was employed to analyze the experimental results.FindingsRewarding time delays and prosocial efforts have no significant impact on the relationship between other-benefit incentives and willingness to engage in prosocial behaviors, but do significantly impact the self-benefit incentives condition. However, the negative effect of self-benefit condition can be mitigated by high rewards.Research limitations/implicationsSince prosocial campaigns proposed by organizations in this study include both profit and nonprofit organizations, perhaps two category organization types should be attentively classified to evaluate the effects.Practical implicationsUnder social marketing campaigns with self-benefit incentives conditions, the empirical findings of this study show that profit and nonprofit organizations can provide higher reward values to mitigate the adverse effects of high participating costs.Social implicationsSocial marketing campaigns with other-benefit incentives are less affected by high participating costs and highlight the value of altruism.Originality/valueThis study provides valuable suggestions for both profit and nonprofit organizations to use self-benefit/other-benefit incentives under cost related factors influence to encourage customers' prosocial behaviors.

Process of forming tourists’ pro-social tourism behavior intentions that affect willingness to pay for safety tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative analysis of South Korea and China

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea implemented relatively flexible quarantine measures such as recommending social distancing. In contrast, China strictly controlled the pandemic, enforcing a ban on going out. This study examined the process of forming people’s pro-social tourism behavioral intention in both countries considering the differing disciplinary techniques in response to COVID-19. We employed a framework combining the Norm Activation Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior. This study contributes to creating a safe tourism environment, proposals for revitalizing tourism activities, and measures to ensure that tourism services are in line with public health.

Motivating prosocial behavior by leveraging positive self‐regard through values affirmation

AbstractProsocial behavior is critical to address global social, environmental, and economic challenges. Yet humans often do not act with the benefit of others in mind, especially when those others are distant and unknown. We suggest that a failure to act prosocially may stem in part from cognitive and emotional capacity limitations. Hence an intervention that reduces worry about the self and thereby increases available resources may foster prosociality. Starting from self‐affirmation theory which posits that affirming the self can establish self‐integrity, we propose that a values affirmation intervention can motivate prosociality through fostering positive self‐regard. Across two studies we find that, compared to control participants, affirmed participants display greater willingness to volunteer time and exhibit increased actual prosocial behavior by completing an unpaid study and donating real money to charity. As hypothesized, increases in positive self‐regard mediate the effect of values affirmation on prosocial behavioral intentions as well as behavior.

Protecting yourself and others: festival tourists’ pro-social intentions for wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, and practicing sanitary/hygiene actions

This study investigated the formation of travelers’ pro-social intentions of wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, and practicing sanitary/hygiene actions in the festival tourism context by merging the extended norm activation model (NAM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The developed theoretical framework was further deepened by evaluating the moderating role of tourists’ perceptions about COVID-19. A sample of 413 Chinese travelers with domestic festival experience before or during the pandemic was used for data analysis. The outcomes revealed that all the hypotheses were statistically supported, and the sufficiency of the proposed model, integrating the NAM and the TPB to predict festival travelers’ pro-social behavioral intentions, was verified. Furthermore, travelers’ perceptions about COVID-19 had a significant moderating effect on four associations: between problem awareness of COVID-19 and ascribed responsibility; ascribed responsibility and anticipated sense of guilt; problem awareness of COVID-19 and attitudes toward pro-social behaviors; and subjective norms and intentions for pro-social behaviors.

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Prosocial Behavioral Intentions, and Organizational Performance

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Prosocial Behavioral Intentions, and Organizational Performance

Influence of urban residents' life satisfaction on prosocial behavioral intentions in the community: A multiple mediation model.

Prosocialbehavior is a category of acts that benefits other people and society. However, previous researchers have paid little attention to the study of community prosocial behavior. Accordingly, the present study adopts multiple mediation analysis to investigate how urban residents' life satisfaction influences their prosocial behavioral intentions in the community. This study collects data from an online survey of Chinese urban residents (N = 765) using self-administered questionnaires. Results show the following: (1) a positive association exists between urban residents' life satisfaction and their community prosocial behavioral intentions; (2) multiple mediation analysis reveals that orientation to meaning life, perception of virtuous humanity, and cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between urban residents' life satisfaction and prosocial behavioral intentions. These findings suggest that urban residents' life satisfaction may facilitate their community prosocial behavioral intentions via high levels of orientation to meaning life, perception of virtuous humanity, and cognitive reappraisal. This study also discusses certain contributions and limitations.

Pre-pandemic Ageism Toward Older Adults Predicts Behavioral Intentions During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ObjectivesDuring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older adults have been disproportionately affected by high rates of health complications and mortality. Reactions toward older adults included a mix of prosocial behaviors and ageist responses, consistent with the history of positive and negative views and treatment of older adults in the United States.MethodsIn a two-part study (n = 113, Mage = 18.49, SD = 0.50; range 18–19), we examined whether pre-pandemic ageism among undergraduates predicts prosocial behavioral intentions toward older adults both specific to COVID-19 and in general.ResultsPre-pandemic ageism toward older adults predicted less intentions to help older adults generally and specific to COVID-19. Whereas viewing older adults as incompetent predicted greater intentions to help specific to COVID-19.DiscussionThese results reflect the complexity of predicting helping behaviors and suggest that even supportive behaviors toward older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic may be rooted in negative ageist stereotypes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Using STOPS to predict prosocial behavioral intentions: Disentangling the effects of passive and active communicative action

This study seeks to understand the confluence of factors that might lead individuals to engage in prosocial action around a societal issue that has received little attention– the mass incarceration of women in the United States. Through qualitative and quantitative inquiry, the authors employ the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) to disentangle active and passive communicative action in a model that predicts three common supportive prosocial behaviors--financial support, volunteerism, and political support. Findings demonstrate an asymmetry between passive and active communicative actions, both with respect to antecedents and the strength with which they predict prosocial behavioral support. While both situational motivation and referent criterion predict active communicative action; only situational motivation predicts passive communicative action. Further, in this context, passive communicative action is the best predictor of common support behaviors including donating money, volunteering time and participating in policy advocacy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Prosocial consumer socialization: how socialization agents impact prosocial attitudes and behavior

ABSTRACT Individuals donating to and volunteering with charitable organizations is an important and increasingly necessary aspect of society. Through the use of an online survey of college students from a large southwest university (N= 374), the current body of research utilized consumer socialization theory to examine the influence that four socialization agents (parents, peers, media, and social media) have on individuals’ prosocial attitudes and behavioral intentions. Analysis reveals parents, peers, and social media have a positive influence on volunteer intentions, while only peers influence prosocial attitudes. Additionally, females have more favorable attitudes and volunteer intentions than males and were influenced by peers, media, and social media significantly more than males.

When thinking of my death leads to thinking of others’ deaths: the effect of collectivism, psychological closeness, and mortality salience on prosocial behavioral intentions in the Sewol ferry disaster

Many South Koreans were traumatized by the 2014 Sewol ferry incident. Focusing on the Sewol ferry incident, this study examined the relationship between collectivism, psychological closeness, and prosocial behavior intentions and further investigated how thoughts about one’s own death moderated this association. Using a sample of South Korean adults (N = 310), we conducted an online experiment and generated several important findings: (a) collectivism increased psychological closeness; (b) psychological closeness increased prosocial behavior intentions; (c) collectivism increased prosocial behavior intentions; (d) psychological closeness mediated the relationship between collectivism and prosocial behavior intentions; and (e) the mediation effect of psychological closeness on the relationship between collectivism and prosocial behavior intentions was strong for people who thought about their own deaths. Our research complements the terror management theory (TMT) by suggesting that thinking about one’s own death can have a beneficial role in eliciting a prosocial behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. This study contributes to building a disaster-related policy and resilient infrastructure in that it helps understanding how collectivistic orientations and psychological closeness toward disasters play roles in disaster preparedness and management.